Penned by Diane D’Haultfoeuille, Intern I joined Sharana at the end of March 2023 for a three-and-a-half month internship. I had taken a gap year between my studies in medical engineering in order to step out of my comfort zone and to translate my convictions and values into meaningful actions: the sense of sharing, of… Read more »

Penned by Sarthak, who is interning with us this year. Sarthak works in the Seeds of Change program, Language Lab program as a Spoken English teacher and supports Communications among other activities. He is a sports enthusiast and has regularly attended Seeds of Change sessions in all the 3 areas we work in. In March,… Read more »

Penned by Ms. Jenita J. I recently had the privilege of interning at Sharana Social and Development Organisation, during my time at Stella Maris College. Over the course of 25 days, this experience proved to be invaluable, providing me with both professional growth and personal enrichment. In this blog post, I would like to share… Read more »

-Penned by Board Member Ms. Alo Pal Everybody likes a good rag to riches story. The harsher the squalor of the rags, the more gratifying the journey to the riches. Chronicling stories of our beneficiaries at Sharana unfortunately plays into the first half without effort. Most of the children in our Back-to-School (BTS) program that… Read more »

UNICEF states that “The vast majority of children without parental care have living family members, including at least one parent or other relative.” It also states that children in alternative care “are more likely to experience violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation”  At Sharana our experience resonates with the UNICEF observations and therefore the Residential Care… Read more »

-Penned by Board Member Alo Pal in Conversation with Siva, Former Beneficiary The Back to School programme has been the oldest and the most urgent programme of Sharana since its inception. Over two decades we have pulled hundreds of children out of a definite fate of illiteracy and hopeless unskilled or low skilled work. With… Read more »

Penned by Communications Manager Tanay  I had previously conducted a Theatre workshop along with Manuel Sir (Program Manager, Expressive Arts Practitioner, Child Protection Officer) in last year’s Summer Camp with a few children. It was one of the most fulfilling creative experiences of my life, and I was amazed by how uninhibited the children were… Read more »

Penned by Ms. Romila Sil (Dance Movement Therapy facilitator-in-training) Over the span of four weeks team members from Sharana facilitated multiple Expressive Art Therapy sessions for children and adolescents participating in their Annual Summer Camp. The Art Room at the Sharana Social Centre (Puducherry) as well as the Angalakupam rural Community Centre (Angalakupam) served as the… Read more »

Penned by Board Member Alo Pal Sandhya is eight. Her father is an unemployable alcoholic, her mother is an unemployed alcoholic sober currently because of failing health. Her sister works as a house help, the sole breadwinner of the family. Our Social Workers observed that Sandhya is unsupervised and loiters on the streets outside the… Read more »

By Ritusmera M., who interned at Sharana and is a student at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar School of Economics University Sharana is the perfect stepping stone into one’s journey into giving back. During my time at here, I learned much about the conditions of the underprivileged in Pondicherry and what kind of programmes Sharana conducts… Read more »